Maintenance man crushed to death

NIAGARA FALLS, NY — A maintenance man at a prominent Western New York office building was crushed to death after falling into a trash compactor, but no one realized it for weeks as his family and authorities searched for him, according to the Associated Press.

Surveillance video shows John Adams tumbled into a compactor while working at the One Niagara building: The mechanism "prevented him from being able to escape and made it impossible for co-workers or others to realize what had occurred," Niagara Falls police said in a release.

Adams, 67, was last seen picking up garbage on the night of July 4: Owners of the building, which houses a welcome center for visitors to the famous falls, had offered a $1,500 reward for information on Adams'' whereabouts while his family had papered the area with signs seeking information, the article stated.

"It was a very startling and tragic discovery," building President Tony Farina said.

"We had always held out hope that somehow John would turn up okay, and this is a terrible way for things to end," Farina added.